Games publisher EA have described the move to digital gaming as “inevitable”, with the company’s President, Frank Gibeau suggesting that EA will soon be a “100 per cent digital company.”

With gamers turning their backs on retail outlets in increasing numbers, Gibeau has revealed that the digital market is the fastest growing area for the gaming giant with recent financial reports confirming EA’s digital ventures are currently bringing in revenues of $1.2 billion per year.

“For us, the fastest growing segment of our business is clearly digital. Electronic Arts, at some point in the future… we’re going to be a 100 percent digital company, period. It’s going to be there some day. It’s inevitable.”

A disc-free future

Offering a potential insight into the disc-free natures of the upcoming Xbox 720 and Sony PlayStation 4 console launches, Gibeau’s predictions of a digital only future are not to be overlooked with a number of PS4 rumours already predicting the next-gen console will be a completely download based affair.

“We have a clear line of sight on it and we’re excited about it. Retail is a great channel for us. We have great relationships with our partners there. At the same time, the ultimate relationship is the connection that we have with the gamer.”

He then added:

“If the gamer wants to get the game through a digital download and that’s the best way for them to get it, that’s what we’re going to do. It has a lot of enhancements for our business. It allows us to keep more that we make. It allows us to do some really interesting things from a service level standpoint; we can be a lot more personalized with what we’re doing.”

Keen to reassure disc loving gamers that they will not be forgotten about overnight, the EA head added:

“If customers want to buy a game at retail, they can do that too. We’ll continue to deliver games in whatever media formats make sense and as one ebbs and one starts to flow, we’ll go in that direction.”

What do you make of a potential digital only gaming future? Would you welcome the change or be deterred by the lack of physical products? Let us know via the T3 Twitter and Facebook feeds or via the comments section below!